Diaper



Marh 27, 1956 B. M. BATEN DIAPER Filed Nov. 5, 1954 INVENTOR. BESS/E M.5.4 re/v,

DIAPER Bessie M. Baten, Houston, Tex. Application November 5, 1954,Serial No. 466,986

4 Claims. or. 128-484) 2 This invention relates to infants diapers. Moreparticularly, the invention has reference to a diaper that does notrequire the use of safety pins, and is readily adjustable.

Qne important object is to provide a diaper as stated which will becharacterized by an improved fastening means. In this way, it isproposed to eliminate the possibility of a pin accidentally opening andinjuring the baby. It is well known that often, the heavy bunching ofmaterial at the location at which the pin is inserted results in the pinbending, promoting its accidental opening. Further, the bunched materialmakes it difficult, in many instances, to insert the pin, thus addingmeasurably to the inconvenience, time, and difficulty involved in diaperchanging.

Another object of importance is to so design the means for fastening thediaper in place about the infant as to facilitate the swift and easychanging of diapers.

Yet another object is to design the means referred to in such a manneras to facilitate the adjustment of the diaper to the waist size of theinfant, the diaper being so fashioned as to permit a single size thereofto be used from the time the infant is newborn through the time theinfant is in training pants. In this connection, the diaper is designedto permit its usage as training pants, thereby to eliminate thenecessity of purchasing this particular item of infants wear.

Yet another object is to permit ready adjustment of the diaper forlength of seat of the infant.

Still another object is to so design the diaper as to make it fullyabsorbent in all positions of adjustment thereof.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claimsappended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like referencecharacters designate like parts throughout the several views, andwherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of the diaper fromv the front, asit appears when worn;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the diaper from the rear when beingworn;

Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the diaper as it appearswhen fully fastened;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 of the diaper at an intermediatestage of the fastening thereof;

Figure 5 is an outside view of the diaper fully open; and

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 4 showing the diaper adjusted forlength of the infant's seat.

The reference numeral 10 has been applied generally in the severalfigures of the drawing to the diaper constituting the present invention.As shown in Figure 5, the diaper includes an elongated seat or bodyportion 12 merging at one end thereof into a back end portion 14, havinga straight top edge disposed perpendicularly to straight, parallel sideedges 16 of the body portion. The side edges 16, at those ends thereofnearer the back end portion 14, merge into gradually curving side edgeextensions 18 which diverge in the direction of the back States Patent 0end portion 14. At their other ends, the side edges 16 merge intogradually curving front side edge extensions converging in the directionof and meeting at the front end of the diaper to form a rounded orsemi-circular front end portion 20 integral with that end of the bodyportion 12 remote from the back end portion 14.

The back side edge extensions 18 cooperate with the end portions of thestraight back edge of end portion 14, to define side wings 22 projectinglaterally from opposite sides of the back end portions 14 and formedintegrally therewith, said wings 22 tapering in a direction away fromthe midwidth area of the diaper.

On the outside of the diaper, that is, the side faced away from theinfants body, there are provided, on each wing 22, a pair of fabricloops 24', 25. One of these loops is disposed adjacent the inner, wideend of the wing 22 and the other is disposed at the outer, smaller endof the wing, both loops being extended perpendicularly to and beingspaced closely from the straight top edge of the back end portion 14.

On the inside of each wing 22 there is formed a single loop 26 alsospaced closely from and extending perpendicularly to the straight topedge of the back end portion 14. The loops 26. are in registration withthe inside loops 24. In a commercial embodiment, in fact, a single stripof fabric may be extended over the top edge of the back end portion andsewed in place to form, with one strip, each loop 24 and the inside loop26 with which it is in registration.

Extending transversely of the semi-circular portion 20, at the outsideof the diaper, is a cloth tie 28, stitched at St) medially between itsends to the end portion 20. The tie 28 is otherwise free of connectionsto the front end portion 20, the free, ends of the tie projecting asubstantial distance laterally in: opposite directions beyond the sideedges of said front end portion. Cooperating gripper elements 32 areprovided upon the outside of the front end portion 20, at opposite sidesof the tie 23, said elements being aligned with the stitching 3t)longitudinally and centrally of the diaper.

In use, the diaper is first positioned upon a support ing surface withits inner surface faced upwardly, fully open as in Figure 5. The infantis then placed upon the diaper, after which the wings 212 are drawnupwardly along the sides of the infants body and the front end portion20 is brought up between the infants legs and disposed against the frontof its body. The wings 22 are positioned over the front end portion inthis position of said end portionv as shown in Figure 4.

The location of the tie 28 defines, at the outer end of the front endportion 20, a flap 34, and this is now folded. over the wings 22, afterthey ends of the tie 28 have been passed through a selected pair of theoutside loops of the respective wings. In Figure 4-, the tie ends areextended through the outer outside loops 25. If, however, the diapershould be adjusted for a smaller waist size, as for example, for anewborn infant, the ties may be passed through the inner outside loops24.

With the ends of the tie knotted in a bow over the front of the diaperafter being loops 24 or 25', the flap 34 is folded downwardly over thetie from the position shown in Figure 4 to the posi tion shown in Figure3. This registers the gripper fastener elements, and these are connectedas shown in Figure 3. This prevents the infant from untying the diaper,and further, there will be no loose ends exposed.

Further, the gripper fastener elements will not be in contact with theinfants body, since the inner one of said elements, that is, thatelement that does not extend through the flap, is not passed through theseveral thicknesses of the diaper, and is secured only to that diaperthickness that is faced to the outside, said outside thickpassed throughselected of the seat, and this characteristic thereof is shown toadvantage in Figure 6. Assuming that it is desired to shorten the seat,one turns the back end portion 14, and the loop provided areas of theside wings 22, downwardly and outwardly from the infants body to form acircumferentially extending fold 36. This will dispose the loops 26outwardly instead of the loops 24-, 25, and the tie is passed throughthe loops 26 under these circumstances as shown in Figure 6, after whichthe flap 34 is turned down and secured in the same manner as has beenpreviously described.

The diaper preferably is formed of superposed, like thicknesses offabric forming inner and outer layers, and disposed between saidsuperposed layers is a thickness of diaper gauze of highly absorbentcharacteristics, extending from the location at which the flap begins,that is, the location of the tie 28, to the back end portion 14, asshown at 38, said inner thickness being spaced from the top edge of theback end portion as shown in Figure 5, and being designated at 38. Itwill be understood, however, that in some commercial embodiments, theformation of the diaper from a single thickness of material, or perhapstwo thicknesses without an intermediate thickness of diaper gauze, mightbe desired.

The design of the diaper is such that when it is worn, it will expand orcontract with the movement of the babys legs, thereby eliminating thepossibility of binding the legs and retarding blood circulation.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confinedto the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may beutilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the inventionto be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated anddescribed, since such construction is only intended to be illustrativeof the principles, it being considered that the invention comprehendsany minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scopeof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A diaper comprising a body portion; back and front end portions atopposite ends of the body portion, the several portions all beingintegrally formed from at least one thickness of absorbent material;side wings extending from opposite sides of the back end portion; outerand inner loops on the outer surface of each wing with a single loop onthe inner surface of each wing; and tie means on the front end portionextendable through said loops to connect the front end portion and sidewings when the diaper is Worn.

2. A diaper comprising a. body portion; back and front end portions atopposite ends of the body portion, the several portions all beingintegrally formed from at least one thickness of absorbent material;side wings extending from opposite sides of the back end portion; outerand inner loops on the outer surface of each wing with a single loop onthe inner surface of each wing; and a tie secured medially between itsends and projecting laterally in opposite directions beyond oppositesides of the front end portion, the provision of loops on the outer andinner surfaces of said side wings being adapted to permit folding of theback end portion and side wings along a line extending transversely ofthe back end portion, whereby to permit adjustment of the diaper forlength of seat.

3. A diaper comprising a body portion; back and front end portions atopposite ends of the body portion, the several portions all beingintegrally formed from at least one thickness of absorbent material;side wings extending from opposite sides of the back end portion; outerand inner loops on the outer surface of each wing with a single loop onthe inner surface of each wing; and a tie secured medially between itsends and projecting laterally in opposite directions beyond oppositesides of the front end portion, the provision of loops on the outer endinner surfaces of said side wings being adapted to permit folding of theback end portion and side wings along a line extending transversely ofthe back end portion, whereby to permit adjustment of the diaper forlength of seat, said outer loops including a pair of loops spacedtransversely of the diaper on each wing, there being at least one innerloop on each wing, the spaced outer loops of each wing being adapted topermit extension of the tie through selected outer loops to adjust thediaper to the waist size of the infant.

4. A diaper comprising an approximately rectangular body portion; backand front end portions at opposite ends of the body portion, the severalportions all being integrally formed from at least one thickness ofabsorbent material, the front end portion being reduced progressively inwidth in a direction away from the body portion, said body portionincluding substantially straight side edges merging into side edgeextensions diverging in the direction of the back end portion to provideside wings extending from opposite sides of the back end portion; loopson the respective side wings; and a tie extending transversely of saidfront end portion at a location disposed inwardly from the smaller endof the front end portion, said tie being secured medially between itsends to the midwidth area of the front end portion and having free endsprojecting laterally in opposite directions beyond opposite sides of thefront end portion, the tie being adapted for extension through selectedloops of the wings to connect the front end portion and side wings whenthe diaper is worn, the disposition of said tie inwardly from thesmaller end of the front end portion defining a flap at said smallerend, the front end portion including cooperating fastener elementsdisposed at opposite sides of the tie, said flap being foldable over thetie when the diaper is worn for registration of the fastener elementswith one another, whereby to permit connection of said fastener elementswith the flap in a tie overlying position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,079,479 Earnshaw Nov. 25, 1913 1,836,794 Goldstein Dec. 15, 1931FOREIGN PATENTS 656,744 France May 13, 1929

